First Day of Competition

Terry is part of the Deep Creek 2014 Delegation attending the 2011 Canoe Slalom World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia. Here is his third blog entry chronicling Day 3 of his trip!

Wednesday, September 7

Today the course went hot with the c2 men’s and k1 women’s qualifications. The first round was in the books, but Mother Nature spoke and threw us a nasty curve of wind postponing competition for the remainder of the day around four o’clock in Bratislava. To my surprise, the competition for the day was wiped clean…no results counted, thus we must make up the day one competition once the weather cooperates, and that might not be until late tomorrow.

As many who are following may not know, this year’s worlds are a qualifying event for the 2012 London Olympics, so a lot is at stake for these world class athletes and the course here will definitely test their skills and fight.

Needless to say that even with Mother Nature’s curve, the delegation from Maryland spent the day cataloging course design, logging sponsor fulfillment, witnessing logistic operations, observing action on the water, people watching and networking throughout the day. The team is definitely taking it all in!

As you can see in the photo gallery each country’s flag are prominently displayed in the flag pavilion, sponsor signs are aligned along the course and the ICF is hard at work making all the necessary adjustments. The athletes who managed their way down the course definitely knew the world was watching them contend to be a world champion! I can only imagine how it must feel to know that what could have been a fantastic run for some on the course is for not…that’s why you must bring your best everyday to the course, and I am seeing these athletes are prepared for these curve balls presented to them.

Thursday morning, the ICF technical committee will meet first thing to determine the new schedule, but the earliest the competition will start is two o’clock. Until then, we wait anxiously and we know from here on out the action on the course will be exciting and furious as we make up for lost time.

I leave with this, the canoe slalom community definitely knows that Maryland is Here To Play and Deep Creek 2014 is gearing up to raise the bar!

Good day from Bratislava.

Terry

**Note of interest as of this morning: Thursday’s competition has been cancelled due to weather. Therefore, the course ICF will re-work the schedule to get basically five days of competition into just three days. This should make for some tremendous runs once competition resumes. Maryland’s delegation is heading into the historic City Center of Bratislava to see the sites.